I recall some time ago being asked why a certain incident in Fishers had not been reported on my blog, or any other news media outlet. I tried my best to explain, but I’m not certain the other party fully understood.
This was a case of one man parking his car in a Fishers church parking lot, pulling out a gun and committing suicide. The people at the church and many others were aware of what happened, but there had been no news coverage of his death. The question I was asked was, why?
This issue also went through my mind as Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness is preparing his special task force to release a host of recommended actions addressing local mental health issues. The mayor told the task force there had been 5-7 suicide attempts in Fishers during the two weeks preceding that task force session.
A suicide is a tough call for journalists. In most cases, suicides, even unsuccessful suicide attempts, are not reported. However, when the person involved is a high-profile person or celebrity (think Robin Williams) the media will have no choice but to report a death as the result of a suicide.
Edward Wasserman is a journalism ethics professor at Washington and Lee University. He sums up the journalistic ethics on reporting suicides this way in a recent blog post:
“Although suicides claim twice as many lives as murders do, only three types generally make the news: those that take place in public, involve public figures—or exemplify some larger social problem.”
In other words, journalists need some compelling reason to report the suicide, otherwise individual incidents are not reported. Part of this ethic stems from the belief by some that reporting suicide deaths would cause a “copycat” response, possibly encouraging others to take their own lives.
I was once asked if homicide rates would be reduced if the media reported fewer of them. I really don’t have a good answer for that, but murders are not like suicides as far a prevention strategy goes.
It does bring up a larger question. Sometimes, but not always, suicide results from a mental health issue. Perhaps some better journalistic reporting on the fact that there are many more suicides in America each year compared to the number of homicides, would shed some light on what can be done to prevent the tragic situation where someone chooses to take his/her own life.
The recommendations forthcoming from the Mayor’s Mental Health Task Force will likely call for special training among first responder personnel from the city. It will also recommend a program of suicide prevention training for youth in grades 8 and above.
I want people in Fishers to know that when I choose not report a suicide, it is not an effort to cover-up anything. You may see some suicides reported if the public nature of the person or the situation is such that you cannot tell the story without that information. But I believe most suicides are painful enough to the families involved without shining a public light on it in news coverage, unless it just cannot be helped.
In a homicide, the coroner’s office can issue a ruling on the cause of death. The police and prosecutor’s office can charge suspects and explain possible motives. In a suicide, it is often impossible to determine a definite reason why it happened.
There are no hard and fast journalistic rules on when to report and not report suicide deaths. All newsrooms must make those judgments on their own.